Motorcade, memorial for fallen officers felt like a reunion

SANTA CRUZ -- They drove long distances. They set aside cases that were hard to set aside. They turned a blind ear to their radios. They came out of retirement. They covered for Santa Cruz Police Department.

On a cloudy morning near the beach in Santa Cruz, officers gathered in impressive force early Thursday to send off their fallen comrades -- detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and detective Elizabeth Butler of the Santa Cruz Police Department.

For Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputy Cathy Bramanti, Thursday was all about solidarity, she said, standing near the Boardwalk before the motorcade began.

Bramanti donned her uniform for the first time in more than two years and knows firsthand how no day in law enforcement is a given. She said she was just glad she was able to be there in uniform.

"Odd as it sounds, I'm just happy to be here to honor the two officers that were killed," Bramanti said. "You never know what you will face. It really is a brotherhood and a sisterhood."

Bramanti was disarmed beaten and shot with her own Taser in November 2010 by a convicted felon while on a routine visit from the Santa Cruz County Jail to Dominican Hospital. She has been on medical leave since.

For her and the hundreds of other officers who came to Santa Cruz to take part in the procession, the motive was the same, solidarity for the officers. The two detectives were shot and killed on the Eastside on Feb. 26 while attempting to interview sex-crime suspect Jeremy Goulet, 35, a recent transplant to Santa Cruz who was shot and killed by officers a short time later.

The memorial service was held at HP Pavilion in San Jose and more than 500 officers joined a motorcade to travel the 33 miles there from Santa Cruz. Alternate viewing sites were established at Kaiser Permanente Arena and the Del Mar Theatre in downtown Santa Cruz for those who couldn't make the trip to San Jose.

Officers from around the county and around the state had a few moments to talk in-between the carefully orchestrated lineup and the beginning of the motorcade. The top brass was all there, including some retired officers such as former Santa Cruz Police Chief Steve Belcher.

Virginia Baker and her husband, Loran, of Fresno, came to the Boardwalk on Thursday morning to greet the crowd of officers there to honor their son. Virginia said, "It's a sad day."

In one spot along the chain-link fence beside the San Lorenzo River and the Boardwalk's remote parking lot, Sheriff Phil Wowak laughed with three officers he called "ex-patriots," officers who had started in Santa Cruz and then moved to Sunnyvale Police Department and the San Francisco County Sheriff's Office.

Asked to be more specific about which local agency they had worked for, Wowak said they had worked at both Santa Cruz Police Department and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.

But there wasn't a lot of differentiating among officers Thursday.

One of the former Santa Cruz officers, San Francisco County sheriff's deputy Sotero Santos, wore a button with Butler's picture on it and a number signifying the academy class they attended together.

Another former local, Sunnyvale police office Casey O'Hara, said the memorial motorcade and service were "sad, but unifying."

As one firefighter put it later at Kaiser Permanente Arena, there were no invisible lines separating first responders. The firefighter, who lives in Pleasure Point and did not want her name used, said some came from as far afield as Chicago.

"There are just no lines today," she said. "No county lines, no state lines, no lines between police and firefighters. We all know there are times when you can't come home. It's scary. And this is how we deal with it."

Sgt. Christian LeMoss of the Santa Cruz Police Department, said it has been tough and that things are going to be different, but Thursday was set aside to honor Baker and Butler.

Sgt. Mike Conner and officer Mike Hedley, also of Santa Cruz Police Department, said Baker had been like a mentor to them -- taking them under his wing and helping Hedley win commendation for a winning number of driving under the influence arrests one year.

Just about on schedule about 8:50 a.m., after family members stepped into limousines, community members lined Third Street holding signs and waving small American flags.

Cindy Rahn and her daughter, Mary Rahn, both of residents of Beach Flats, held a sign stating "We love Santa Cruz PD."

With tears in her eyes, Cindy said, "They were here in the Flats all the time. It's so sad. He (Butch) was such a great guy; he really cared for the Flats."

Rahn said that the officers made Santa Cruz a better place.

"It's good to keep Santa Cruz weird, but they also kept it safe," she said.

The motorcade was led by California Highway Patrol and other motorcycle officers. CHP officer Sarah Jackson who said it was an honor for the CHP to accompany those mourning Baker and Butler.

After the dignified motorcade left and people began trickling away, officers were filling to provide security for Santa Cruz Police Department at Kaiser Permanente Arena and throughout the city, while supervisors had stepped in at the Santa Cruz County emergency dispatch center so that all but a handful of dispatchers could attend the memorial.

Sheriff's Sgt. Ian Patrick, who serves in the hot-seat position analogous to the one Baker did so well at SCPD -- "person's crimes sergeant in investigations" -- stood inside Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz for a bit Thursday afternoon, his head bent at times to hear the radio on his shoulder.

Some of those walking by nodded solemnly at him and sheriff's Sgt. Joe Clarke in a show of respect.

Patrick was on patrol Thursday, covering for others, and he heard a call on his radio before he turned and walked quickly out of the building, to a car and a plain-clothed partner from the Monterey County Joint Gang Task Force.

As he walked, a woman told him she was glad he got to hear some of the message. He gave a brief smile and nod, before he was accosted by a woman who seemed disoriented but wanted earnestly to tell him something.

He guided her out of the street by holding lightly to her forearm and listened as long as he could before ducking quickly into the car, his partner-for-the-day ducking in too, totally in-sync.